1. The Great Global Convergence, 1400-1800 CE
Big Era Six:
The Great Global Convergence, CE

2. Some key themes: Old and New Worlds connect Columbian exchange
Global economy
European dominance
Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment

3. Exchanges that began in Afroeurasia during Big Era Five continued to bring about change.
Scholars translated books, taught others, and worked to gain knowledge.
Trade introduced people to new products, increasing the demand for luxuries.
Money moved across countryside and continents in exchange for goods.
Religious ideas were hotly debated, and missionaries spread religions to new lands.
Ruling groups debated laws, and military struggles continued.

4. European Renaissance Arab, Persian, Greek, Indian, Chinese knowledge
Crusades, Marco Polo
Art, literature, philosophy, science
Paid by royal courts and the wealthy of Italy, then NW Europe
Printing press (1468)

5. Sciences, philosophy, and the arts flowered in Europe after 1400.
“Knowledge of the Ancients” entered Europe during the 12th century. Its origins were Greek, Arabic, Chinese, and Indian. It contained all natural sciences, math, applied sciences, and philosophy.
Europeans had some catching up to do.
Scholars flocked to Spain in the 1100s to translate books from Arabic to Latin.
Scholars represented the heritage of ancient and eastern knowledge as a “giant.”

6. Rise of European Universities
Demand for education stimulated the growth of European universities in major towns.
Woodcut 1513: Image copyright-free from Dover publications
These universities introduced new knowledge into the curriculum.

7. Population & Environment
Slide 22
Population & Environment
Islam and Christianity spread with empires, trade, and migration.
Djenne mosque:
Catholic missionaries and religious orders followed the spread of empires in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Protestants colonized North America.
Traders and Sufi orders spread Islam in Africa and Asia.
The Ottoman Empire expanded into eastern Europe, and Islam spread into the Balkans.

8. Religions Morph Martin Luther - 1517 Protestantism
Christianity spreads (Americas)
Islam spreads (Afroeurasia)
Buddhism spreads (Asia)
Local polytheistic religions dominate
Syncretism increases

9. Religious institutions and ideas changed with the times
Martin Luther challenged the Catholic Church’s authority and brought on the Protestant Reformation after He translated the Bible into German.
Political leaders took sides, spawning European religious and national conflicts that lasted more than a century—to the mid-1600s.
Neo-Confucian doctrines were challenged by Wang Yangming ( ) and his followers, emphasizing rational thought and reflection.
German Bible:
Wang Yangming:
Sufi calligraphic engraving of Jesuits at Akbar’s court:
International religious institutions developed, such as Sufi orders in Islam, Catholic and Protestant missionary orders in Christianity, and Muslim reformist groups in Africa and Arabia.

10. Asian commercial and political voyages on the seas continued.
Indian Ocean trade routes attracted merchants as they had for centuries.
Zheng He, Admiral of the Ming fleet, made seven voyages around the Indian Ocean.
Malay ship:
Golden horn display: Or:
Ming ship:
Ottoman naval vessels patrolled the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Indian Ocean.

11. Maritime technology changes
Better ships and better navigation tools
Cannons onboard; firearms and iron tools
Spanish, English, Dutch, French, Portuguese create huge empires
Improved global communication, travel, & trade
American empires hugely disadvantaged

12. Chinese sternpost rudder Muslim portolan charts and maps
Technologies from Afroeurasia led to new European ship designs in the 15th century.
Arab lateen sail
Chinese compass
Ship image: Library of Congress
Lateen sail:
Charta Rogriana world map, Islamic, anonymous,1154:
Exploration 40 © Kathleen Cohen 1998 xploration 40 © Kathleen Cohen 1998
Chinese sternpost rudder
Muslim portolan charts and maps

13. Slide 11
Vasco da Gama
1498
Columbus 1492
Magellan
1519
After 1415, European mariners made voyages across the seas toward east and west. By 1519, Spanish ships had circumnavigated the globe. Others set out in search of wealth and adventure.

14. Population extremes: A Tale of Two Hemispheres
* Afroeurasia LEAPS: 375 million in 1400, 950 million in 1800
* Americas CRASH: 50 million in 1500,
10 million In 1600

15. The Great Dying
Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, Andes, North America
Causes: disease, warfare, slavery
Prompted imported slaves from Africa
Affected plants and animals too (less in S. America)

16. African Slave Trade 1500-1800: estimated 11 million
42% to Caribbean, 38% to Brazil, 5% US
Needed to replace dying Indians on plantations and mines
Destroyed African societies
“Africanized” the Americas; only 2 million Europeans immigrated

17. Rampant deforestation
Mostly in Europe, Americas, Japan
Fuel for mines, sugar industry, ships
Europe turned to coal; Japan chose reforestation

18. Population & Environment
Slide 20
Population & Environment
Deforestation intensified with growth in mining, shipbuilding, and plantation agriculture.
boiling sugar
mining

19. Trade Booms Precious metals from Americas, Europeans benefit most
Access to, funds for, Asian & African goods
Sugar, coffee, tobacco create wealth for Europe, misery for people of Americas & Africa
Raw materials to Europe, finished products to Asia, Americas, Africa

20. Columbian Exchange

21. Environmental changes resulted from introducing new species
Population & Environment
Global cash crops were grown on large plantations with slave labor.
Caribbean sugar plantation
1600s
Plains woman hunting buffalo 1800s
George Catlin:
Livestock introduced to the Americas changed indigenous groups’ ways of life.

22. Population & Environment
Slide 15
Europeans brought African slaves across the South Atlantic to labor in the colonies. The Atlantic slave trade grew from about 1,000 per year in the early 1500s to nearly 80,000 per year at the end of the 1700s.
Population & Environment

23. Rise of Militarism Gunpowder! New tactics, professional armies
Wars of Religion, Puritan Revolution, 30 Years’ War, Seven Years’ War, American War of Independence, French Revolution
Britain emerges most powerful
Europe finally defeats Ottomans in 1800s

24. Slide 31
States & Empires
Gunpowder empires in Asia, Africa, and Europe honed skills in production of artillery and handguns.
Land and maritime empires battled over control of trade, resources, and territory.
Cannon trajectory:
See Ottoman also
Mughal knife:
Chinese gunners:
Persian, Indian, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, and European artisans experimented with steel production for weapons.

25. States and Empires in 1519 CE
Slide 32
States and Empires in 1519 CE
States & Empires
Map by Robert Prom

26. States and Empires in 1600 CE
Slide 33
States and Empires in 1600 CE
States & Empires
Map by Robert Prom

27. States and Empires in 1714 CE
Slide 34
States and Empires in 1714 CE
States & Empires
Map by Robert Prom

28. States and Empires in 1804 CE
Slide 35
States and Empires in 1804 CE
States & Empires
Map by Robert Prom

29. Catherine the Great Russia Süleyman Ottoman Empire 1520-1566
Slide 36
Monarchs claimed
absolute power.
States & Empires
Louis XIV
France
Catherine the Great Russia
Elizabeth I
England
Philip II
Spain
Xizong Ming China
Shah Abbas
Persia
Jahangir
India
Süleyman Ottoman Empire
Miniature of Sultan Süleyman:

30. Printed books carried more and more information.
Ideas & Inventions
Printed books carried more and more information.
Page numbers, indexing, and other citation systems became common.
Sharp, accurate engraved illustrations helped spread innovative inventions rapidly.
Scientists shared detailed diagrams to replicate experiments and instruments.
Rich illustrations stimulated interest in literacy and learning.

31. Slide 25 Maps reflected discovery and colonization.
Ideas & Inventions
Maps reflected discovery and colonization.
…and helped exchanges of knowledge among people in the world.
Cantino map 1502:
Jesuits Teaching (and probably also learning) Astronomy at the Chinese Court. Detail. Guy Louis Vernansal.18th c. Baroque, France. Exploration 10 © Kathleen Cohen 1998:

32. Maritime technologies continued to improve after 1500.
Ideas & Inventions
Mapping world wind patterns and oceanic currents.
Ships were fully rigged with sails for speed and handling.
Ships grew larger & stronger (500 tons in 1450 to 2000 tons by 1590).
The sextant greatly improved navigation at sea.
Cannons and ammunition improved.

33. Banking and law served new demands.
Trade & Manufacturing
Banking and law served new demands.
Accountants learned double-entry bookkeeping with “Arabic” numerals.
Commercial law protected private property and investments.
More efficient bureaucracies and taxation increased the power of the government’s purse.
European monarchs issued charters to colonize overseas.
Jurists experimented with civil and constitutional law.
Copyright-free woodcuts from Dover publications

34. Scientific Revolution
Based on questioning old ways of thinking
Sources: Protestantism, new information from other cultures
Copernicus, Galileo, Descartes, Pascal, Newton
* Scientific method

35. The Enlightenment Social version of the Scientific Revolution
Questioning Man’s purpose, relationships with other Men and with government
Led to doubts about organized religions

36. Rebellion in American Colonies 1776
Slide 37
States & Empires
Challenges to absolutism came from new elites with ideas about human rights.
Louis XVI
Charles I
Charles I, beheaded in 1649
King George III
Rebellion in American Colonies 1776
French Revolution
1789

37. Reflections
Europe was a world backwater pre What factors contributed to its growing importance after 1500?
Did the Old World or the New World benefit more from the Columbian Exchange?
How did the discovery of huge quantities of silver in the Americas affect Europe? China and India? Africa? The Americas?
Did the world, overall, benefit or suffer from Europe’s dominance in this era?